Strategy Guide Reviews

A Strategy Guide for your Strategy Guides

The Corner of Randomness: Horizon Zero Dawn

By Leave a Comment

Happy Nintendo Switch release day! To those who have snagged this new console, I hope ya enjoy it. I’m stuck to sticking to my policy of wanting three games before I invest in a new console. That means I probably won’t be on the Switch train until they release some themed version that I MUST have, or there is some software that makes me salivate to a point that I must go shopping. Then again, I hear the new Zelda game is totally legit! We’ll see how long I last on holding off.

While I am only watching people enjoy their new Nintendo Switch console, I’m in PS4 land enjoying Horizon Zero Dawn. I really shouldn’t have picked this game up, but I am weak…and money is just a thing…and screw being an adult and making adult like decisions. So I preordered the game on PSN last week and then watched a countdown clock tick away until the game unlocked at 11PM CST on Monday. Thank you pre-loading! Little did I know just how addicted I would become.

Horizon Zero Dawn is an interesting mix of genres. There is a bit of fantasy blended with sci-fi. It might sound weird having a hero that hunts mechanical animals with a bow and arrow, but the story works well to make this a believable thing that could actually happen. Yes, you still storm bandit camps and find old towns, but you also go spelunking in nifty machine hideaways. There are times that I feel like I am Neo and I’m about to save all of humanity. Other times, I feel like I’m Red Sonja and the spear is the only way to resolve conflicts. Like I mentioned, it’s a wonderful combination of fantasy and sci-fi.

The other aspect of the game that has me playing into the wee hours of the morning is the photo mode. The game is stunning to see. The lighting, weather changes, and how the time of day changes the visual presentation is just fantastic. If you know some fundamentals of photography, you’ll even get more out of the photo mode. I often find myself roaming the lands looking for a spot to pose for a selfie.

I’m roughly twenty hours into Horizon Zero Dawn. I have no idea how long the game will take me to complete. There are just enough side quests to keep me going from one campfire to the next, but not so many that I feel oppressively overwhelmed. The story is enjoyable. The combat feels solid and challenging when it needs to be. The whole package is just well done. If you haven’t snagged anything new lately, and you’re in the need for a new world to check out, give this title some consideration.

Gaming Diary: The Glory of cRPGs

By Leave a Comment

I’m reviewing Torment: Tides of Numenera for PlayStation Lifestyle as a port from PC to PS4. I have Torment in my Steam library, but like so many things, I never got around to it. I probably should have, because this is one of the most unusual cRPGs I’ve ever played. Not a huge fan of the tactical turn-based nature, but everything else about it is so intriguing. It has the most unusual character creation I’ve come across, and the way the game uses stats to make decisions or even attacks is very unique.

It makes me want to go back to finishing Pillars of Eternity or starting Tyranny or even starting Divinity: Original Sin. I always forget how much I enjoy cRPGs until I play one. Not that I have time to really add more RPGs to my plate, much less massive ones like these. And what am I doing? I’m staring at the Backer Portal for Obsidian’s sequel, Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire! I clearly don’t like money. Although, I can’t help that notice one tier includes the game’s Guide Book. I like Guide Books.

Pillars of Eternity 2

Well, opening Steam just now was a mistake. I have quite a few RPGs in here that I haven’t touched, and that’s woefully sad. I really do need to clone myself so I can get all these games played. Or at the very least, learn Naruto’s Shadow-Jutsu so I can absorb all of those experiences like I really did it myself.

Perhaps I should give up reviewing new games or buying new games for Lent…

Oh, wait. I already have the Switch preordered along with Zelda and NIER: Automata. That’s why I don’t get anything done. It’s all so clear to me now!

The Corner of Randomness: When Developers Get Chatty

By Leave a Comment

Last night I was making my usual rounds of various Twitch.TV streamers that I follow in an attempt to relax before bed. One of my favorite streamers was playing a new game I had not heard of before. Intrigued by this new title, I jumped into their channel to see what the new hotness that is Dye was all about.

Dye turns out to be a pretty interesting little game. It’s one of those difficult platformer games in the same vein as Super Meat Boy and I Wanna Be The Boshy. If pixel perfect jumps, spot-on timing, and countless deaths are not your thing, then this game is probably not going to float your boat. I don’t know that I’ll play the game, but it looks neat and it was made by just two people. Crazy, right?

As I’m watching the streamer struggle bus their way through the game, they made a comment about how the developers of the game were in the chat. I am not one to keep Twitch.TV chat open for reasons, but I figured it would be interesting to see how the developers interacted with chat. Ultimately, this lead to a long night of chatting when I should have been asleep. Yet, I actually learned a bit about what all goes into making a game. Even one that appears to be rather simple, yet is fairly complex.

This is why I enjoy Twitch.TV so much. When smaller games release, oftentimes the developers can be found on some stream talking about the game they just released into the wild. You get access to ask the developers what they were thinking when they went with a specific art style, or control scheme, or what made them want to make a game, or where you can obtain their totally chill original soundtrack. I’ve seen bigger developers attempt this same type of interaction, but those often devolve into vile and stupidity because chat just can’t enjoy video games.

This is not the first time I’ve witnessed this phenomena. I once caught the CEO of ROCKFISH Games sitting in a tiny stream in which the streamer was playing Everspace. They were very interactive with chat. What was really nice about this interaction is that at that time, the game was still in the beta stages. If you bought the game and sent the CEO a message with your order number, they would get you right into the beta without having to wait for weeks or months. I’m pretty sure they sold quite a few copies of the game just based on the almost instant beta access. Also, the game was totally worth it as it is a good bit of fun.

It is crazy at what all you can actually find on Twitch.TV now. Being able to interact with developers is still a fairly new thing, but one that I hope we continue to see happen more frequently. Twitch and chill?

The Corner of Randomness: What to Play

By Leave a Comment

He Chose PoorlyI’ve run into an issue this week. It’s not world ending, and it sure as hell isn’t a first world problem. Yet, it is something I’ve noticed a lot of gamers go through. That question of “What the hell do I play?” that so many of us hit from time to time. I’ve found myself asking that question a lot this week.

It’s not like I don’t have anything to play. Sure, I really want to be playing Nioh right now, but that just isn’t in the cards at the moment. I have a massive backlog of games on a few different platforms. I’m truly not lacking in content when it comes to slipping away into a virtual world.

Yet, I find that when I can sit down and play a game, I don’t even know what to play. I just end up spending that time looking at my inventory of games, giving up and watching Twitch. You know, because watching someone else play a game is so much easier than making my own decisions.

I’ve read some articles about how other people handle this. Some just make a list, start at the top and work their way through the list. Others just let the guilt go of not finishing this or that game, and play whatever floats their fancy at that moment. Some just stop playing games for a time and invest their energy in other places. I should probably put my time and energy into more productive matters, but we all need a break. It’s only healthy.

Is it safe to say this is just gaming burnout? What do you do when you just can’t decide what game sounds the most interesting to play when you have the time? Curious minds want to know.

Gaming Diary: One of the Worst Games I’ve Ever Played

By Leave a Comment

Divide Game

Last week I had the “pleasure” of playing literally one of the worst games I have ever played. This wasn’t the worst because I sucked at it (which was a bit true), it’s the worst because it is. Bad controls, half-baked ideas, poor voice acting, meh story…it had all the makings of something awful.

I played this for a review for PlayStation Lifestyle. When I was first presented to Divide, it was simply called a sci-fi adventure. Well, I like sci-fi. I liked adventure games. What could go wrong? The answer was everything. I had no idea that sci-fi adventure was a code name for terrible controls for a top-down shooter wannabe. Because that’s exactly what this game was. For starters, if you’re going to have a top-down shooter, it needs to be a dual-stick shooter. This game, instead, requires three buttons to shoot your weapon. First you aim with the right stick. Then you press and hold down L2 to ready the weapon. Then you press R2 to fire. You know how much fun it is to try to hold your aim steady when you can spin 360 degrees and hold down three buttons at once? It’s not fun. Not fun in the slightest.

Even worse, the weapon could only fire once in the beginning before it needed to recharge. The enemies don’t have that problem. They can shoot as much as they want, and they surprisingly have no problems aiming at you.

This is only the tip of the iceberg as to all the problems with this game. You’ll have to read the review to get the full monty. I was ten minutes in when I called uncle to my Reviews Director. But no, the show must go on, no matter how terrible it is. It was so terrible. I have so many regrets, namely agreeing to review it in the first place. I have never scored a game so low as I have Divide. I really do hate coming down on developers for a project that they have put in their blood, sweat, and tears. In this case, the game was so bad, I had to. I really don’t know what they envisioned when they planned this game, but they executed it poorly.

I have no reviews planned until the end of the month, so you know what that means. IT’S BACKLOG TIME, BABY!

Top Posts & Pages